
8
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
Scriptures; namely, righteousness through faith in Christ.
Since the record also states that Christ, through the Spirit,
preached, or testified, "in the days of Noah, while the ark
was a preparing," it is evident that this was none other than
the preaching of the gospel, and that the "spirits in prison"
were men and women groaning under the bondage of sin, and
needing a Saviour to set them free. Compare Rom. 11: 32,
margin.
5.
"The Lord condescended to enter into a covenant with
His servant, employing such forms as were customary among
men for the ratification of a solemn engagement. By divine
direction, Abraham sacrificed a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram,
each three years old, dividing the bodies, and laying the pieces
a little distance apart. . . . The plan of redemption was here
opened to him, in the death of Christ, the great sacrifice, and
His coming in glory. Abraham saw also the earth restored
to its Eden beauty, to be given him for an everlasting posses-
sion, as the final and complete fulfillment of the promise.
"As a pledge of this covenant of God with men, a smoking
furnace and a burning lamp, symbols of the divine presence,
passed between the severed victims, totally consuming them."
—"Patriarchs and Prophets," p. 137.
6.
"Abraham, 'the friend of God,' set us worthy example.
His was a life of prayer. Wherever he pitched his tent, close
beside it was set up his altar, calling all within his encamp-
ment to the morning and the evening sacrifice. When his
tent was removed, the altar remained. In following years,
there were those among the roving Canaanites who received
instruction from Abraham; and whenever one of these came
to that altar, he knew who had been there before him; and
when he had pitched his tent, he repaired the altar, and there
worshiped the living God."—
Id., p. 128.
7.
"The ram offered in the place of Isaac represented the
Son of God, who was to be sacrificed in our stead. . . . When
the command was given to Abraham to offer up his son, the
interest of all heavenly beings was enlisted. With intense
earnestness they watched each step in the fulfillment of this
command. When to Isaac's question, 'Where is the lamb for,
a burnt offering?' Abraham made answer,'God will provide
Himself a lamb;' and when the father's hand was stayed as
he was about to slay his son, and the ram which God had pro-
vided was offered in the place of Isaac,-- then light was shed
upon the mystery of redemption, and even the angels under-
stood more clearly the wonderful provision that God had made
for man's salvation."—
Id., pp. 154, 155.
Have you formed the daily study habit?